There are a number of reason that help explain this declining percentages. One it that the European governments that are member of the consortium have contributed generously to the research and development needed to design and build state of the art equipment. A second is that these governments now purchase Airbus aircraft while in the past years their purchase are almost always from the U.S aircraft manufacturers. A third is that the U.S Government is cutting back on its own purchases of military aircraft, thus denying Boeing and McDonnell Douglas what used to be guaranteed orders as well as the funding for developing airplanes that would later be modified for commercial use. A fourth is that new aircraft must be researched and designed to replace the aging fleet now in existence worldwide. The cost of bringing these aircraft to market will run into the billion dollars, and Boeing and McDonnell lack the needed research and development funds.

As a result of these developments, Airbus is continuing to increase its market share. However, the U.S government is trying to reduce the political risk and, through effective negotiations convince the consortium members to stop providing such large annual subsidies to Airbus. If these efforts are not successful, McDonnell Douglas is likely to go out of the business or have to sell more of its ownership to foreign investors, such as it recently did to Taiwan, who can provide the necessary capital to keep the firm going. The same will eventually happened to Boeing, since without new product development the company will have great difficulty competing against Airbus. In any event, the U.S dominated commercial airliner manufacturing industry has seen the entrance of a major competitor in Airbus. The industry has also seen an increase in the political risk facing established competitors and which will face Airbus as well, if the governments involved are unable to resolved their differences.